Film and TV
Underappreciated: Brick
In the first blog for our column on underappreciated masterpieces, we take a look at the urban-noir high school drama Brick.
"You better be sure you wanna know what you wanna know."
Brick, like hundreds of other films suffered the terrible fate that is a limited distribution. Chances are that even if you heard of it at the time you could not find anywhere to see it. It won a Special Jury Prize for Originality of Vision at Sundance Festival in 2005, but its following has mainly grown from word-of-mouth recommendations. Despite this it is still woefully overlooked and one of the most innovative pieces of film-making of the past few years.
The film follows the efforts of high school senior Brendan Frye to uncover the truth behind the death of his ex-girlfriend Emily. Brendan is an outsider; formerly part of the school drugs network he has chosen to go clean and keep himself to himself. Yet Emily is sucked into this dark and dangerous world and does not escape with her life. With the help of his friend the Brain, Brendan attempts to find Emily’s murderer, encountering the weird and wonderful members of this world, such as the theatrical Kara and rich kid Laura. As he digs further and further he is forced to infiltrate the inner circle of local drugs-lord the Pin and puts himself in increasing danger from both the Pin and the school authorities. The film is packed with clever dialogue and twists in the tale in the style of the film noir of the 40s and 50s, and it really packs a punch.
This is film noir, set in a suburban high school in America. Yes, I know this sounds a little silly, and the filmmakers know this, but it is played perfectly straight and believe me, it works. No cheap pastiche here; director Rian Johnson painstakingly crafts each scene to deliver an atmospheric and suspense-filled picture at the same time as carefully avoiding a slip into the realms of the ridiculous. Part of his success is in a recognition of the suburban high school as an odd setting for such a clever yarn about drugs, sex and murder, and indeed it is not without wit: in one scene Brendan, bloody and bruised, has a tense exchange with the Pin in the kitchen whilst the Pin’s mother offers Brendan cereal and apple juice. The film is also notable for its complete lack of classroom scenes.
There are some truly amazing elements to this cult flick; the soundtrack is hauntingly brilliant and it adds to the suspense, which is superbly crafted, especially in scenes such as the chase on foot where Brendan is pursued by a knife-wielding stranger. The elements of film noir are extremely well observed, from the close-ups and lingering shots to the rhythm and style in the dialogue. There are subtle nods to the great film noir classics, such as the reference to The Maltese Falcon when Brendan tells Laura “Now you are dangerous”. The dialogue can be difficult to follow at first; with its mannered delivery and plethora of slang it can seem as though they are all speaking in riddles, but after a while it makes perfect sense. The performances are also fantastic. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (indie flick darling) as Brendan really shines, and Lukas Haas gets the balance between the threatening and the ridiculous just right in his portrayal of the Pin. Johnson really went out of his way to turn the American high school drama on its head, and created a startlingly different film which stays true to the entirety of his vision.
Topics: Film
The extent to which I agree with this article is not even funny. Without a doubt one of the best films I have ever seen, such a shame it didn’t get the success it deserved.
OK, OK I promise to watch it again! Last time was very late night while doing other stuff and I remember it as quirky and uncomfortable, but I suspect I did not concentrate on it enough to do it justice. Now I need to find a copy…